Just stumbled upon this and my mind was blown. Of course, I’m a science-loving guy so that happens, but I hope you find something interesting here.

What you’re looking at below is a brand new map from data just collected and sifted through. A few NASA satellites and a couple of really smart people have made a map of the world with the height of tree canopies in various shades of green. Below is the U.S. map with the same data applied.

A forest canopy height map of the contiguous United States. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon/Based on data from Michael Lefsky.

Some random zip-lining guy.

Something to keep in mind: this data isn’t for every tree, rather for every large patch of trees (5 sq km of trees). Also, the height represented isn’t the tallest tree in the area; the data is marked as 90% or more of all trees in an area having a that height.

What can we do with this data? Well, scientists are using it, in part, to look at the carbon cycle–which is so important to us in terms of the ongoing global warming debate.

I, on the other hand, am thinking about planning a zip-lining vacation! Who’s with me?